Red Cross Support for Lake Christine Fire

UPDATE: Tuesday, July 10, 2018 – 12 PM: The Red Cross shelter at Basalt High School is closed, and this will be the last update. The Red Cross continues to provide disaster assessment and bulk distribution in the area.

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Update: Monday, July 9, 2018 – 11 AM: The Red Cross shelter at Basalt High School, in the vicinity of the Lake Christine fire, is closing today at 1 PM, as reentry gets underway in that area. The shelter housed 10 people last night.

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Basalt, CO Red Cross shelter manager Rick Mathew (right) and other shelter volunteers unload a fresh shipment of cots and blankets for a trailer at the high school Friday afternoon.  Photo by Rick Padden/Red Cross.

Update: Saturday, July 7, 2018 – 11 AM- The Red Cross shelters for the Lake Christine Fire were consolidated into one located at the Basalt High School, 600 Southside Dr, Basalt, CO 81621. Overnight there were 30 people who stayed at the shelter. A few people stayed outside in their vehicles.

Rosalba Ceballos, 27, of Basalt (left), introduces a young Lake Christine Fire evacuee to her dinosaur at the Basalt Red Cross shelter Friday afternoon.

“Overall, our transition to one shelter went easily,” said Courtney Strother, Red Cross Site Director for the Lake Christine Fire response. “We are able to provide better support for the evacuees in this arrangement.”

Friday evening there was a lot of activity in the shelter as families registered in. Children were being entertained, food was served and information disseminated. Rosalba Cebellos brought her oversized dinosaur to the shelter to cheer the kids up, and said she does such things “just because it’s fun and I’m a big kid”. Inside the dinosaur costume was friend Lindsey Anderson, 18, also of Basalt. By 10 PM, however there was a definite quiet as people settled in for sleeping.

Roger Staats, deputy incident commander for the Lake Christine Fire, updates a crowd of around 240 Friday night at a town meeting at the Basalt, CO high school,

The shelter in Basalt will remain open as long as there are residents seeking shelter. The shelter provides cots, blankets and makes sure the residents are safe and well fed. Fire information is also available at the shelter and Friday afternoon the deputy incident commander for the teams working the fire came into the shelter to provide fire information. There are more than 540 firefighters working the Lake Christine Fire.

Community partners are supporting the shelter , as well. The Lions Club has been serving meals since the shelter open and several restaurants have offered to provide meals.

Shelter Manager George Newell talks about how things are going at the shelter.

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Update: Friday, July 6, 2018, Noon – The American Red Cross operated two shelters for the Lake Christine Fire overnight. At the Basalt High School shelter 34 people stayed overnight while there were 42 people at the Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale.

NOTICE: The Roaring Fork High School shelter will close this afternoon. Buses will be available to take evacuees from the Roaring Fork High School to the Basalt High School shelter at 3PM, 5PM and 7PM. After that the only shelter open for the Lake Christine Fire will be at Basalt High School – 600 Southside Dr, Basalt, CO 81621

The Red Cross, in partnership with the local community, will provide meals at the Basalt HS shelter for all evacuees beginning with the evening meal. Information about the fire will also be available at the Basalt HS shelter.

For the latest information about the Lake Christine Fire and about Eagle County services please visit the Eagle County Sheriff Facebook page. 

How can you get help: Visit www.redcross.org to find location of shelters that are open for the Colorado wildfires. You can also find tips for evacuating and for returning to your home when that  occurs.

How Can You Help? Please do not bring donations to the Red Cross shelter. The shelter has all of the items needed to take care of the evacuees. Visit the Eagle County Sheriff Facebook page for more information.

The Red Cross is always in need of good volunteers. If you would like to be part of the response to the Colorado wildfires visit www.redcross.org/colorado/volunteer .

If you can’t volunteer, the best way to help is to make a financial donation to the Red Cross Disaster Relief. You can do that in 3 ways:

Click – on redcross.org/donate

Call – 1-800-redcross

Text – the word “redcross” to 90999 to make a $10 donation that shows up on your cell phone bill.

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Update: Thursday, July 5, 2018, 7PM – Emergency information for the Lake Christine Fire is available at http://www.facebook.com/EagleCountySO. This is a change from previous blog reports.

The Red Cross will continue to operate 2 shelters for the Lake Christine Fire.

1. Basalt High School – 600 Southside Dr, Basalt, CO 81621
2. Roaring Fork High School   Note corrected address
   2270 CO-133,
   Carbondale, CO 81623

Additional Red Cross resources and volunteers are heading to the area to continue support for people evacuated due to the Lake Christine Fire. Partnerships are in the works to provide emotional and medical support at the shelters. Those assets should be in place Friday.

Shout-out to the local community for supporting the Red Cross shelter and the evacuees.

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Update: Thursday, July 5, 2018, 9AM – The American Red Cross has opened a second shelter for the Lake Christine Fire. The second shelter was opened in Carbondale after midnight as fire activity expanded and new evacuation orders were issued. Overnight 41 people were at the shelter in Basalt for the official midnight count. However, 40 more people arrived due to additional evacuation orders. As of 7 AM there were over 100 people at the Carbondale shelter.

The local Lions Club provided the evening meal at the shelter in Basalt. Other local businesses and restaurants are pitching in to help as well.

Shelters available for the Lake Christine Fire

Basalt High School – 600 Southside Dr, Basalt, CO 81621

Carbondale Community High School –  1301 E Walnut St, Carbondale, IL 62901 

For additional fire information visit facebook.com/CarbondaleFireDistrict. See corrected site above.

Download the free Red Cross mobile app, Emergency. It can help before, during and after the disaster. It is available from your preferred vendor or from the Red Cross at www.redcross.org/apps.

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Wednesday, July 4, 2018, 8 AM – The evacuation center for the Lake Christine Fire has reopened as of 8 AM. Red Cross volunteers will be at the center to provide support for evacuees. The evacuation center was closed overnight but Red Cross workers were able to help a few people find accommodations during the night. This is an evacuation center where people can stay during the day to get out of the heat and smoke while firefighters work on the the Lake Christine Fire.

How can I get help?

The latest fire information is at http://www.facebook.com/carbondalefiredistrict.  Follow the Red Cross on Twitter at COWYRedCross or visit this site for updates. The URL will remain the same for easy bookmarking.

How Can I help. Right now the situation is under control. Please do not bring donated items to the evacuation center or to the fire stations. If there is a need for donated items the request will be posted by the local authorities.

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Tuesday, July 3, 2018, 9 PM – The American Red Cross has opened an evacuation center in response to evacuation notices for the Lake Christine Fire near Basalt, CO. The evacuation center is at the High School in Basalt, CO, 600 Southside Dr in Basalt, CO.

This is an evacuation center but could be turned into a shelter if overnight stays are needed. According to Carbondale Fire District about 80 homes are threatened so the evacuation order was issued.

Red Cross responders will remain at the evacuation center that will also be a center point for fire information. For additional fire information visit facebook.com/CarbondaleFireDistrict.